Last week, I wrote about my first experience with Primerica and their incredible ability to convince people to work for them. However, I was about to encounter this company once again in my life. One of my friends quit his job to work for Primerica a short time before I went to that first meeting. A year had passed and he was still working for them, saying that he was building his own company within Primerica. As I do have the profile of a successful salesman, he approached me when he felt comfortable with the idea of recruiting a friend.
I was enthusiastic about speaking with one of my friends about Primerica as I figured that he would tell me the truth about how it works. The whole pyramid scheme was scary and I had a lot of questions. This question and answer session went on and on for over a year as it was very complicated to get an answer that would not lead to another question. So, here are most of the questions and answers we discussed.
What is Primerica, What is your purpose as a Primerica advisor?
- Our role is to help out other people with their financial needs. Too often, they are left alone as banks are only interested in selling their products and not helping clients. The population needs guidance with regards to their finances and we are there to provide them with great service. It usually starts with a protection plan including life insurance.
How do you make money? Do you have to sell insurance?
- Well FB, you make money by building a team of salesman that will help people with their financial situation by selling Primerica’s products. The system is pretty simple: my VP recruited me so he makes a cut on all my sales and my team’s sales. Then, when I recruit individuals at my level, I also make a cut on their sales and their team’s sales as well. You can earn a commission on a sale up to four levels below you. I should become a VP in two to three years. I’m already part of the top 5% of team leaders and I just became a regional director.
Becoming a VP within the next three years? What does this mean?
- To become a VP, you need to recruit a certain number of Primerica advisors directly related to you. Then, you simply have to reach your objectives in term of premiums, investments and other requirements.
So, who is selling if you concentrate on recruiting? What does the commission chart look like?
- The people you recruit will become your sales force and you will be making a part of their commissions as you are above them. The commission chart is below the market industry simply because you have the opportunity to recruit individuals and benefit from the pyramid-like system.
Okay, then how do you recruit people and find new clients?
- Everything is produced through the word-of-mouth approach. Basically, anybody with a deep feeling of entrepreneurship and a need to help people will be considered as a potential recruit. We are looking at people that want more than a small 9 to 5 job that they are looking for financial freedom and a better future. All clients are contacted through references. So you don’t need to make any cold calls. We sit down with you and help you out to draft a list of your main references. These will be your first clients. Then, you ask your clients for more references and you build your business this way. Word-of-mouth is the best publicity around and this is why we don’t need to advertise.
How can they efficiently offer financial products with such limited financial background?
- All Primerica Advisors attend the classes they need to complete before they can sell (we are talking about insurance and mutual fund licenses here). The whole team, especially the person who recruited you, is there to compliment your training. I usually go to the first five meetings with my new advisors and I show them how to explain our products, lead the conversations and close the deals. When they have a lot of potential, I can go to ten meetings with them. I always tell them “if you want to know how to swim, come and meet me on the other side of the river. Then, I’ll help you”. I believe in people who want to work and I will do everything possible to help them out in their careers with Primerica.
Are they making money while they are in training?
- They are not, as they are still in training, and they do not have their licenses. Therefore, it is only normal that the person who trains them earns the commission from their hard work. The training process is very important for their proper development. This will often make the difference if they will succeed or not. They look at it as an investment in their own business.
I think I got the picture, let’s chance the subject now; How come Primerica has such a bad reputation on Google?
- Not everybody understands how the company works or that they have to make extra efforts in self discipline as they don’t have any boss who will look over their shoulder to see if they are working. Many people are frustrated by Primerica but they should be frustrated about themselves. When you really understand what Primerica stands for, you understand that their system is simply beautiful.
Before I get to my own conclusion, I would appreciate to hear your feedback about Primerica and your own experiences with this company. Stay tuned this Friday as I will come out with my own perception of Primerica and their system. I’ll try to be as rational as possible
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I can’t wait till Friday.
Dear Financial Blogger! ; )
You know my own experience with Primerica. But I’ll try to resume it again.
I went to one of their reunions and had the chance to stay a little longer than the other recruits-to-be. At that time, I really had the impression that those people want to help others. I saw them talking, laughing and motivating themselves with no one around to analyse but me. It seamt like fun to be part of this team (yes, they really act like a team).
Someone also came to my home to show me their products. I don’t know much about finance but I thought he had good arguments. They are offering ways to save money by paying less bank fees (the principle is that your representative is not a bank employee and doesn’t need you as a money income as he makes most of his money by recruiting others). They also put a lot of energy over what you’ll like in the future and ways to achieve it. They also gave me good advices regarding my real needs on life insurance.
But, I did not become a recruit. My reasons are simple. First, although they say everybody can do this, I think you have to have a minimum of interest in financial products, which is not really my case. Second, I felt their principal goal (help people with their finances) was left to their last priorities as most of their time was spent in recruiting. Last, they say they offer you the chance to work on the schedule you want. BUT attending reunions on Wednesdays or Thurdays nights, every week, as well as big meetings on Saturdays and other activities that implie your family is obligatory. I simply didn’t feel like thinking about work on nights and weekends…
I also have to admit the Pyramid side of their system still scares me a little. Putting all that together, I personnally think they are unfortunately more down sides in being a member of Primerica than anything else. On the other hand, they propose new ways to look over your personnal finances that could be positive for most of us.
Vé,
You would probably receive the same kind of good advices from other mutual funds / insurance companies’ consultants. Those companies are not looking at finance the same way banks do. They tend to be more proactive than banks in regards to clients’ needs. While it is a good point for Primerica, they are not the only company that does it.
Thx for sharing your experience!
Sounds like a scam.
Mike
wait until the conclusion, it’s worst than you think
It’s good for people who’s not good at managing their own money. For finance aware people like us who read finance blogs. The things that they can help you with are limited.
The power of their system is in recruiting. But what happens when the people you recruit doesn’t sell? Which is what their system points to. If you look at it, clearly, bringing a person in actually nets you more income than making a contract.
Once you exhausted your immediate families as recruits and broken all your relationships in the process, what are you going to do? Make cold calls to their references whom you’ve never met.
Hey FB, here’s the telling line for me:
Many people are frustrated against Primerica but they should be frustrated about themselves.
This is simply on of the weakest f@#ing arguments that you can present. I’ve basically heard this almost verbatim from every other MLM. Oddly, what they’re saying is actually correct and pretty simple:
Sales is hard work and financial training is hard work. Most people don’t do very well with this stuff, b/c it’s hard work and that’s not what they signed up for.
Personally, I think the MLM people are dirty for selling their product as if it’s anything other than hard work. I mean they’re offering licensed financial advice. That requires lots of training and some experience. You have to spend hours in sales meetings and poring over people’s finances to make correct suggestions and you have nothing to buffer your failure like you would in a “normal job”, so you’re basically a consultant without a degree.
Of course, the people who fail at the MLM things are the dummies who don’t figure out that “this MLM thing is hard work. These are the people who’ve never heard of efficient market and can’t figure out their “rate / hour” or why they’re failing where their bosses are succeeding. These people generally have no other “hope” of “striking it big”, b/c they don’t have an education or highly marketable skills or even the desire to do the things that make them worthy of lots of money / hour.
I honestly think the “negative response on Google” is really a two-fold problem. It’s likely 50% lying salespeople (whether intentional or misguided) and 50% fools who actually didn’t follow “the system” and didn’t put in the time and basically failed b/c of their own ineptitude (crooked business or not).
Gates, I’m not sure that the negative response on Google is only created from liars and dummies. How come you don’t have similar search results when you are pulling conventional commission based company such as Trimark or Sun Life? The only difference is the MLM structure as consultants are paid by commission and sell the same products with both kinds of company. In fact, it is as hard to sell with Primerica than it would be under another conventional banner. I’ll keep the rest of my answer to my 2 posts conclusion at the end of this week
This war over PFS has raged for years on the internet, and I have no doubt it’ll continue as long as PFS is around… I usually just spectate, but you seem to be a fairly reasonable guy, so I’d like to throw in my two cents…
I’ve been full time with PFS for three years now, and at the age of 21, will be a Vice President this month. I’m good with people, I have no problem selling something I believe in, and I have no problem not bringing someone on board my organization.
I don’t feel there can be an argument on the products that PFS offers. With our new term insurance product, we’re amongst the lowest cost in the industry, our loans help the consumer reach debt freedom faster, and aren’t terribly uncompetitive like they used to be, and our investment business utilizes virtually every major fund company in existence.
I would like to share a side of things most people don’t think of. The average age of a financial professional in America is mid to late 50’s. That means that in a few years, most companies’ sales forces will be retired. In light of this, there have been more companies trying to recruit me than you can possibly imagine. I’ve had interviews with Nationwide, MetLife, Baltimore Life, AIG, and a few others. They act like dogs looking at piece of raw meat seeing a 21 year old who’s fully licensed and is a big producer… Kinda scary, actually…
I tell you this because hey, I’m only 21, and I don’t have a mountain of life experience, and I had no idea if there was something better out there! But after sitting down with several companies, their presentation all boiled down to this: We have decent products, we have benefits, you can make an awesome living selling here!
Which left me a bit confused, as PFS offers all of those same things, and adds one thing: the ability to recruit other people from day one. And it is this component that seems to get people bent out of shape. Perhaps I’m naive, but I can’t see why… There are seven people in my organization that make a full-time living from PFS. And none of them are 21 like myself. They all have families. mortgages, etc… I’ve been around the world because of PFS. Why wouldn’t I want to recruit?
By the way, all of the other companies offered the ability to recruit as well. The difference lied in the fact that I would have needed to be a top salesman for at least two to three years, and then I could recruit and earn overrides, just like in PFS.
I guess the point is, some people get confused, or are perhaps flat out lied to when encountering PFS. It IS hard, but it IS rewarding, much like any other job in sales. And don’t let anyone fool you, you can make a great income personally developing clients. I get paid nearly $3,000 for one full-service client, and that takes about 8-10 hours of my time.
Thanks for reading my ramblings, I hope it was entertaining!
Hey FB, I think that food for thought is evidence to the essence of my comment.
I’m good with people, I have no problem selling something I believe in, and I have no problem not bringing someone on board my organization.
It IS hard, but it IS rewarding, much like any other job in sales
You see, with these skills, he could’ve been in sales anywhere. He even admits that its hard work (which is part of good sales). As a smart guy, he probably had no problem making the sales and this suddenly puts him on top. Not only does he make sales, he also gets a down-line which you don’t get if you’re selling cars. He’s probably a company success story, of course, he’s also probably in the 0.1% of the population for whom PFS would actually be a good career move!
Of course, the MLM structure attracts the liars and the dummies, whereas regular sales tends to weed those people out (barring used car salesmen and crooked companies).
Food for thought, I don’t think that Primerica is bad by itself, Where I have a problem, is how the company is described by the recruiter. You seem to be pretty successful, have you ever tried to figure out how much you would earn from a more conventional insurance or mutual fund company with the same sales?
Gates, you are right as I think that FFT could have been a top performer pretty much everywhere. I wish car company would get rid of liars as well… you can’t find a honest car salesmen these days
I think it’s great you guys seem to be taking an honest look at PFS.
If anything though, it would be awesome if you would consider one thing, which, admittedly, may be hard to wrap your head around…
PFS is not a MLM company.
I hear it all the time… “The Amway of financial services”, “Just another one of those cult, insurance pyramid deals”, the list goes on and on…
There are two reasons, in my mind anyway, and I could be wrong, that it isn’t.
1) You are required to recruit to earn a promotion to Regional Vice President, not to make money. You can make money, and pretty good money, simply as a representative. Living the lifestyle of your dreams money? No, but replace-most-jobs money, in the 30-40k a year range. I personally can’t think of one other company in the MLM industry that would allow you to do that.
2) Every financial service company recruits, and recruits heavily. In fact, every other company I’m aware of actually has a salaried position with the title of Recruiter. Like I mentioned before, I’ve been prospected by more financial service companies than I care to remember, and every single one of them would have overridden my sales had I been hired there. So, perhaps I’m young and naive, but I fail to see how that differs from what PFS does, except they actually get paid to recruit, and we actually have to license, train, and equip someone to sell before we get compensated off their efforts…
Keep in mind, I’m not denying that the highest paid earners in the company recruited their way to the top; they did, but that was a choice they made when working here.
As for compensation, at my current contract level, from every insurance company I’ve interviewed with, I make just about the same as every other company on a term insurance sale. As a Vice President, with bonuses, I would make far more than any other compensation plan I’ve personally seen.
With mutual funds and annuities, I do make less than an average registered rep would. Not by much, but about 10-15% less from what I’ve seen. I do think due to the nature of our business, and the tendency to have multiple products with one client, the average trade is a bit higher than it normally would be at another firm. For example, I have yet to interview with a company that also offers a debt elimination product. So if I can free up $500 a month for a client, and they give me $200 a month to put into a Roth IRA, that’s $200 I wouldn’t have gotten at another firm… So I think it all comes out in the wash in that regard.
As far as car companies go, I have a friend of mine that just started at a dealership, and sweet mother of Jesus, from the things he told me, I’m almost scared to buy a car at one!! The tactics employed there are unbelievable! So I totally agree with you in that they should get rid of car salesman!
FFT, I appreciate your comments but I would like to review them.
#1 It is true that you are not required to recruit representatives at Primerica. However, if you don’t and you only sell, you will more likely make less than with another company and you will not benefit from the main feature of Primerica : recruiting. You can do the same thing with Amway; sell, sell sell but you will not get much out of it, this is why (like Primerica) they strongly recommend you recruit others. Without saying that it is bad, Primerica is MLM at any level.
#2 Every company recruits, regardless if they are in the financial industry or not. Having a licence to sell this kind of product is a legal requirement, nothing incredible with that. However, I have a problem where people that have absolutely no skill nor financial experience will become “fully trained†after 5 meetings.
#3 In regards to the plan of debt elimination, I personally worked with many consultants from different companies (five of them to be precise) and that was a big part on how they were able to get money invested into life insurance or mutual funds. It is a common (but really good) technique used by several companies. For some curious reasons, Primerica is trying to claim the exclusivity on this basic method. Even some banks are doing it!
I strongly suggest you read my next two posts (this Thursday and Friday) about my conclusion on the company.
[...] that this company was not made for me. So after reading more about the way they approach people and their speech, I am presenting my personal conclusion on [...]
I have responded once before and wanted to take this opportunity to share some history about the Primerica phenomenon.
When Primerica first emerged, it was under a different name….it was called A.L. Williams. Art Williams, a high school coach, began selling TERM Insurance and MUTUAL FUNDS.
His logic was simple:
(1) Whole Life Insurance is simply a bundled product, composed of a decreasing term policy linked to a savings component I will refer to Whole Life and its cousins now as CASH VALUE POLICIES
(2) Cash Value Policies, on a cost per thousand, are much more expensive than Term Inisurance
(3) Cash Value Policies are difficult to understand and most traditional life insurance agents cannot tell you how much of your premium dollars go the the life insurance component and how much goes to the savings component. Remember, MOST Life Insurance agents were NOT college educated in finance and economics. What they learned about insurance they learned from the Insurance Company that hired them
(4) The rate of return on the savings component is extremely low. According to a Federal Trade Commission study conducted in the 1970s, the rate of return was less than 2 percent!
(5) In most cases, when a person who owns Whole Life dies, his beneficiaries receive only the face amount of the policy, NOT the savings!!
(6) If you take out the savings while the policy is in force, you either have to borrow the money (that’s cute…you borrow your own money) or if you take out all the savings, the insurance company reserves the right to cancel your policy. You don’t have to believe me, just READ the policy and examine its provisions.
(7) His conclusion?
Have people purchase TERM insurance so that they could afford adequate coverage
Have people invest in mutual funds to satisfy their retirement needs because historically they have provided a much higher return than insurance policies.
As another advantage, IF the policy owner dies, his family receive his insurance AND investments.
He called this concept “Buy Term and Invest the Difference!” The concept had actually been around for a long time. Art Williams simply adopted it and put it into practice.
How did the life insurance industry react? Attack after attack after attack. The little dirty secret was out. Primerica revealed that the industry was focused on selling its most expensive product (Whole Life) to make profits rather than to provide benefits to its policy owners. Sure, they could sell term, but they instead pushed whole life policies as “investments.” But Primerica kept forging ahead. As more and more people became financially literate, they began to question the practices of the once revered insurance companies. The people began to act.
In the 1990s several of the industry’s top companies were facing class action suits for parading Life Insurance as an investment. Prudential, MetLife, and many others were stung and forced to pay liabilities to customers.
The industry never forgot Primerica and continued to attack her with a vengeance. The company was excoriated and its representatives impugned. Rumor and innuendo about Primerica was rampant. The way we were protrayed you would have thought that behind each of our names were the numbers, 666!
As Primerica grew, so did the logic and wisdom of its message. But Term Insurance and invest in mutual funds! Now most financial planners worth their salt parrot the same mantra, as do respected magazines such as Consumer Reports, Forbes, Money, and many others. The revolution Primerica launched continues to evolve today. And that is good for the average Joe out there.
Having witnessed attacks against Primerica for fifteen years, I realize there will always be detractors out there and that we will never reach them. I do wonder, however, why you don’t see the same against the so-called traditional insurance companies. It leads me to believe that most of the posts and complaints I have read over the last decade and a half come not from John Q. Citizen, but traditional life insurance agents and their proxies.
Much of the rest come from people who embrace every conspiracy they hear and simply repeat what they read….
Primerica is a MLM company
Primerica is a pyramid scheme
Tthe representative who work for Primerica are evil and ignorant, they don’t know what they are selling
The representatives are not “professional”
Primerica is about to go bankrupt
Goodness, the list goes on for infinity. Despite all this tired diatribe, Primerica continues to be the largest and most successful marketing company on earth.
Let me pose a question to you as an average Joe. The large insurance companies can sell Term just like us. Why do you suppose they opt to sell you their most expensive product (Whole Life)? You got it. To make more money.
Now the follow up question. If the agent sold you his most expensive product, did he do it to benefit your family, or his?
Your ponder those questions and think with logic rather than emotion. As for the life insurance agents, I really don’t care about your opinions. I have sat across the table with whole life agents with clients to debate which type of insurance is best for the client. Wanna guess who won?
I am not an arrogant snob. I am open to different perspectives and understand that NO company is perfect. By the way, NO client is perfect either.
But, I have met a lot of arrogant life insurance agents working for the major firms who spend more time on the golf course while their underpaid secretaries do the work than they do in front of families.
We at Primerica make a heck of a lot less on an insurance commission than the traditional whole life guy. But we are eager to help people and will visit them multiple times to satisfy them and provide the most professional advice we can offer. We don’t have secretaries, we don’t demand you come to our office, we don’t wear costumes (starched shirts and $80.00 ties) to impress you with how we dress.
What we do is offer you, free of charge, the most important thing a person has, and that is his time. AS for our expertise, we have the same credentials that the other guys have, and probably a lot more.
Those of us who have been around for awhile are seasoned, well trained and extremely motivated. We truly enjoy seeing people improve their lives and stick to the old creed, “Give people what they want and you will get what you want.”
Thank you for your time,
Mike
Every scenario there is posed from a very unique point of view but lets be practical.
What makes a captive term agent claiming to do the right thing any better than your alleged crooked whole life agents?
I mean it isn’t like such an agent who claims to believe in buy term and invest the difference could or would compare among good term carriers in order to make sure he/she sells the best term product for the lowest cost.
It isn’t like such an agent who claims to believe in invest the difference would ever fail to tell their clients that in times of unstable markets they have the OPTION of added guarantees to fund their retirement by using fixed indexed products right?
Why stick them with non-guaranteed securities only (without full regard to risk tolerance) and not even give them a choice?
Could it be because one cannot offer what one is not allowed to sell?
Isn’t it kind of deceptive to claim to do what’s right when you know you are not allowed to be truly objective?
If a client told me he/she wants the lowest possible risk of principal loss I would not stick him/her with securities. Why would you?
Forget the whole life agent rah-rah.
Lets talk term agent to term agent.
What makes your term so good that a client is forced to pay nearly double the premium and unisex rates?
Maybe you don’t charge anything but every time a client buys an expensive policy and is not told he could have saved money by going with company ABC instead of PFF…
Isn’t that client paying a price for not knowing?
Ahhhh the quotes…
“-Give people what they want…”
How can one give people what they want if one doesn’t have it?
Can you sell Disability Insurance?
Fixed Indexed annuities?
Commercial lines?
Critical Care insurance?
RIA?
What if I am 73 years old and I ask you for Life Insurance… I may have a very good reason to buy it at that age. I am sure you know why since you are so well trained in estate preservation planning.
Could you give me what I want?
Would you even try to issue term at that age?
Are you sure that the reason that companies create other insurance products is not because there is a market for them?
Maybe the reason why products like WL, UL, Term exist is because they are for specific uses.
Planners work with clients based on the client’s specific needs and no good planner will go around saying buy term and invest the difference until the client is analyzed.
Why that would be like prescription before diagnosis wouldn’t it?
It’s always amusing to me to read these. 100,000 Zombies with canned responses. I’m sure I’ll be the next to get one.
So tell me, what is the maximum issue age for your term policies?
Why are Primerica 35 year term policies only guaranteed for 20 years?
Why is Return of Premium Term a fast growing market segment in life insurance?
What about grandparents wanting to leave a tax free death benefit to their heirs?
What about the great Term websites out there that will get you a cheaper policy by a higher rated company?
Why do you sell MetLife Variable Annuities? Genworth Long Term Care? Why can’t Primerica develop their own products in these lines?
Why focus the attack on whole life insurance? Some life insurance policies now even index to the S&P 500.
Your turn zombies, eat my brains…
At the moment, I am going through the Primerica process and have chosen not to recruit until I am licensed. It’s a choice I make because I prefer to be very educated before passing on my wealth of knowledge.
While every company will always have people rooting against it, what upsets me is the talk about Life Insurance by persons who a) don’t know the market, b) think that because they know a few “big words” have a right to discuss the market and c) have never taken a State course on the market.
Why did I mention a course or class, etc? Because the State books on Life Insurance and Variable Annuity will scare the crap out of you. There are so many more loop holes with Whole Life than Term life no matter which way you stuff it. Some of the Cash Values ARE taxed and you end up getting none or very little of what, by law, is YOURS.
Call me a sucker, but I’d prefer to put the rest of MY hard earned money into investments than have it sit in a pot that Whole Insurance companies use to pay for their services.
As for a pyramid scheme, isn’t everything? As for the hard work – do you expect to get something for nothing? Hmm… let’s ponder that, shall we?
Jace, how can the company would let you recruit without having your license anyway? This is quite scary if they do! How can you recruit somebody and train him if you haven’t sell one life insurance? I hope that it is not only a choice but a requirement.
I don’t know about the US, but in Canada, every single insurance company has term insurance product so Primerica is definitely not inventing the wheel here. In Canada, you could sell all kind of life insurance (whole life and term life) and make much more commission with Manulife, Maritime Life, London Life, Great West life, Clarica, Sun Life and so on. They ALL offer term life insurance and they offer bigger commission structures.
The only difference with Primerica is that they offer the MLM structure where you make a cut on your recruits. I have written several post on this company and nobody opposed my point: the best way of making Primerica is the following:
- Recuit a guy
- Make 5 – 10 first sell with his closed friends and relatives (easy referral)
- Earn full commission on those as he is on “training”
- Once “trained”, make this guy recruit another guy and do the same thing so you can earn a quick buck on the first 5-10 sell.
- And so on and on….
Am I wrong or what?
[...] in hand, they are shipped to their relatives’ house in order to sell them financial product. Primerica was able to build complete questionnaires that are filled by the client with the advisor and then [...]
Let me begin with a caveat here, I am not bashing PRIMERICA but their day has come and gone. Exposed by the Internet …ill read the tombstone.
The mantra of : ” We are the only company out there taking care of mddle income America. ” …is but hollow words.
Anyone can go online today and find 1100 companies with cheaper term than Primerica because they are not paying 11 generations down.
For many of the old timers of 20 years (and it still may be the same, although, I can not attest to that), their money was made at fast-start schools.
They would block at 400 rooms, then sell them to the downline at double he price but for cash. They would put all the room charges on a credit card as a business expense.
They also collected $5 at the door both days of the school to pay for the big ballroom.
Well, when you take 400 rooms…the hotel gives you the ballroom.
What they were doing was fleecing their people in concert without outright tax evasion by not reporting the room reimbursement cash.
This is why they were doing a fast start school every 6 weeks, as the skim was close to $20,000 a school.
I KNOW HOW IT WORKED BECAQUSE I GREW UP WITH THE FELLOW WHO STARTED IT, JOE ENSOR.
Unfortnately, my friend of 40 years passed away at the young age of 58 which was too young for such a lovable rascal.
I recall vividly when we were having lunch on the New York City watefront and I asked him if he was worried aboutg getting caught. His response was somewhat comical when he said: : ” Who would blow the whistle? These people are so stupid all I have to do is give them some $2 -shirt, a title and tell them they are getting promoted. ”
Primerica has had to change their ” complexional ” image and it refelcts n the new salesorce.
Best of success to anyone in it …but it is a dying entity.
Fran Maguire
Just an added note, I noticed that in a few posts above their is some war of words going on, assumedly, bewteen someone from Primerica and, apaprently, someone who is not, relative to term, older people and estate planning.
Both arguments being made are self-serving, yet share a common denominator: Both parties are mis-informed.
I would not single either party out but, assumedly, you know who you are and if you e-mail me at: MaguirePhD@comcast.net, I will point you in the direction of information to make your argument more sound.
Again, best of success to all.
Respectfully,
Fran Maguire
Isn’t it true that you can’t get something for nothing? America was founded upon the capitalistic principal of equal opportunity for all. While we know that is not always the case, PFS offers anyone willing to dedicate themselves to the necessary hard work the opportunity to make and grow their own business. I’ll repeat: You can’t get something for nothing. In answer to that concept, we are required to do things that may seem out of our comfort zones to make the PFS opportunity work: recruit people. Call people and ask to meet with them. Put ourselves out on a limb for the sake of having our own financial freedom. The reason why there are so many detractors and nay-sayers out there is because these are the people who haven’t committed themselves to the hard work necessary to do this business. They are still brainwashed by the corporate middle-class mindset into thinking that anything other than a job in a cubicle farm with “benefits” must be a scam. That’s why the proportion of successful PFS agents to those who fail is so dramatic – way more people quit before they really commit to this. Open your eyes, people. Life is what you make it – if you want your life and your future to be owned by only YOU, and not a BOSS, you need to get out there and do the legwork required.
G.S.
If you want to make money, you need to work hard, regardless in which field you are working.
Just so you know, I just started my new job as a financial planner and I am already making the same thing (if it’s not more) than the person I know that has been working at Primerica for the past 4 years.
You think he is not working? man! he is working like there is no tomorrow and he is going to be VP within the next year. The result? he is making a decent income as an individual but this is a shitty income as a VP in “the corporate world”.
Why do the PFS people keep talking about owning their business?
Wake up PFS people!
You do not own squat there. It is a franchise and in a franchise the corporation has final say, control and onwership because they NOT YOU own the system.
If you own it why don’t you:
Open YOUR BUSINESS location anywhere you want at any level including below RVP?
Why can’t you sell YOUR BUSINESS to anyone other than people in the company?
Why is it that you cannot add any carriers or other services to YOUR BUSINESS?
Why is it that your logo has been chaged three times without your permission needed and your are forced to comply with that logo for YOUR BUSINESS?
Why must YOUR BUSINESS have products dictated to you?
Why can’t you add Disability Income to YOUR BUSINESS despite the opinion of the corporation?
Why is YOUR BUSINESS for sale without your approval or agreement?
You do know the real owner is officially selling that PFS unit as reported in several news outlets already and that it has been valued at a mere 7 billion!
So much for the guy claiming to be the heart and soul of Citi. 7 Billion is a bargain price.
Kind of like “I have an old car I want to get rid of” price.
What kind of business is this you own where a corporation tells you what to do, what to sell and forces you to network beyond a 50 mile radius?
You guys are not too bright. You keep talking all this junk about not having a boss and owning your business yet you have a boss. Yes, if a corporation tells you what you can and cannot do that is practically your boss and you don’t own jack there.
You guys don’t know what ownership is to begin with.
Sorry, but I just see a bunch of contradictions in everything you guys say and apparently even though everyone knows that ship is sinking you are all excited and in denial.
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I was just wondering….. did you EVER think about learning the art of proofreading before endeavoring into the world of blogging. Simply amazing that you would do THIS and NOT actually take a second look at what you write. THINK about IT !!!!
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All of you can debate this all you want but Primerica is no more than under compensating the lower ranks, high priced Insurance, terrible underwriting, little organization, total control by RVP’s and above, total dependence on others to produce for you, telling everyone that you are doing something great for the world and being totally uneducated into thinking that one product fits everything. If that’s appealing to you then go for it. I’ve been on both sides with a very unique perspective of the industry. You will have to take my word for it or don’t. Your choice
and by the way if you think you are running your own business without a boss and without being controlled you are in for a rude awakening